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Not quite a fast electric, but it goes!
Some details...
The boat was made by Fleet-Line in the early 1960s. Measures about 11-inches long. It originally came with twin plastic Johnson or Evinrude 40s on it. It also had a cruiser style superstructure. The hull and styling are very much like the Power Cats of the day. Measures about 11 inches long.
The motor is a 1990s era toy Mercury made by the now defunt Nylint Toys. They are quite common and frequently can be had on eBay for under $25.00. I modified this one with several updates. First, the 260-sized motor that comes in the outboard is pretty weak and does not stand up well to even modest voltage upgrades. It has metallic brushes that simply melt down when you juice it with anything over 3V. I added carbon brushes out of a higher end motor to take care of that issue. Second, the gears on these motors do not mesh well. They're relatively substantial (for a toy) but they barely engage. So I shimmed the propshaft to get better engagement and take the slop out of the drivetrain. Third, I had to add a heavier coupling between the motor and driveshaft, as the original wasn't much more than plastic shrink tubing. I used some 1/32" I.D. bleeder hose with a 1/8" wall. The end result is a motor that stands up to 7.4V without cooking or breaking anything. The propeller is the stock prop that came with the toy.
The speed control is a Nano sized model C-7 by Electrifly. Battery is a 7.4V 400 mah LiPo. Radio is by Tactic, and is a 2.4 GHZ transmitter and receiver (no antenna!!).
- Scott
Some details...
The boat was made by Fleet-Line in the early 1960s. Measures about 11-inches long. It originally came with twin plastic Johnson or Evinrude 40s on it. It also had a cruiser style superstructure. The hull and styling are very much like the Power Cats of the day. Measures about 11 inches long.
The motor is a 1990s era toy Mercury made by the now defunt Nylint Toys. They are quite common and frequently can be had on eBay for under $25.00. I modified this one with several updates. First, the 260-sized motor that comes in the outboard is pretty weak and does not stand up well to even modest voltage upgrades. It has metallic brushes that simply melt down when you juice it with anything over 3V. I added carbon brushes out of a higher end motor to take care of that issue. Second, the gears on these motors do not mesh well. They're relatively substantial (for a toy) but they barely engage. So I shimmed the propshaft to get better engagement and take the slop out of the drivetrain. Third, I had to add a heavier coupling between the motor and driveshaft, as the original wasn't much more than plastic shrink tubing. I used some 1/32" I.D. bleeder hose with a 1/8" wall. The end result is a motor that stands up to 7.4V without cooking or breaking anything. The propeller is the stock prop that came with the toy.
The speed control is a Nano sized model C-7 by Electrifly. Battery is a 7.4V 400 mah LiPo. Radio is by Tactic, and is a 2.4 GHZ transmitter and receiver (no antenna!!).
- Scott
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